Prue Henschke and her husband Stephen Henschke are the custodians of one of this country’s most significant vineyards, which is the source of one of our most revered wines: ‘Hill of Grace’ Shiraz. That vineyard is in the relative cool of the Eden Valley, with a resource of significantly old and ancient vines. Prue Henschke has helmed the viticultural team since 1987, working across their vineyard holdings, as well as planting new sites.
The Hill of Grace vineyard is planted to own-rooted shiraz, with the oldest vines, dubbed the ‘Grandfathers’, planted around 1860. There are five other blocks in the vineyard, with vines ranging from 1910 plantings up to three blocks in the ’50s and the most recent in 1965. Across those blocks, Henschke notes that there are five distinct “gradations in soil type” across the 4 hectares of vines.
“The whole site is covered with a nutrient rich windblown sand as the topsoil. Good drainage and moisture-holding clays are ideal for shiraz and the Hill of Grace vineyard site contributes a beautiful five-spice aroma, while significant vine age contributes to the palate complexity of the wine.”
“The first shiraz vines were planted in deep silt next to the creek line sometime before 1860 when the Gnadenberg Church was built,” says Henschke. “Another shiraz block was planted in 1910 on clay loam and the rest of the vineyard was planted in the early 1950s on more clay loams and shallower loams over red clay. One has the remnants of a scree layer at 30 cm, which gives the best fruit in wet years.”
Henschke notes that each block has a role to play depending on the season, but there is a thread running through all of them. “The whole site is covered with a nutrient rich windblown sand as the topsoil,” she says. “Good drainage and moisture-holding clays are ideal for shiraz and the Hill of Grace vineyard site contributes a beautiful five-spice aroma, while significant vine age contributes to the palate complexity of the wine.”
In 1989, a new planting was established that may eventually be included in the Hill of Grace blend (it is currently bottled as ‘Hill of Roses’), but irrespective of that it is a valuable resource to protect the future of the vineyard. “The material for this vineyard came from a selection program on our old shiraz, which has resulted in a nursery of 19 selections, which will also provide planting material to preserve the precious genetic heritage of the pre-phylloxera vines, as vines need to be replaced,” says Henschke.
“Being a dry-grown vineyard, the under-vine mulching has made the biggest difference to the quality of the fruit. The permanent swards keep the beautiful sandy topsoil in place, giving us well-balanced vines and a cooler atmosphere during the ripening period of summer. The depth of colour and tannin maturity has improved in the wetter blocks by the adoption of vertical shoot-positioned canopies, and each year, we see that distinct five-spice, particularly star anise, character in the wine.”
“Being a botanist, the Australian landscape means a lot to me,” she continues, “and I want our vineyards to sit in amongst that native landscape. Many of our vineyards are quite old and the big red gums remain, the peppermint box and blue gums as well. We looked at our surrounding land to apply permaculture principles and came up with two risks – flooding and wind damage.”
In 2003, a 32-hectare agroforestry block of eucalypts, acacias and native pines were planted at the top of the catchment to mitigate these risks. “Shelter belts of she-oaks, and peppermint gums were planted in contours for windbreaks for a new vineyard nearby,” says Henschke. “There are headlands, gaps between blocks, creek lines and areas under the trees where plenty of revegetation can occur. The surrounding land can offer unlikely opportunities. The agroforestry block we planted has a gum, eucalyptus occidentalis, which is a favourite food source for koalas and is currently being coppice harvested for the rescue koalas at Cleland Wildlife Park.”
In addition to the benefits to local environment, native plantings have also increased the health of the vineyards, as well as naturally managing light brown apple moth and vine moth issues. “I had investigated a range of native plants that would act as companion plants, and I chose wallaby grasses for permanent swards and sweet bursaria and iron grasses as beneficial insect hosts,” Henschke says. “Alongside mulching with compost and straw under vine, we have the advantages of better pest control, soil protection, organic matter build-up, no cultivation and no herbicides.”
The viticulture at Henschke is built on a legacy of sympathetic farming, with the organic methods employed by Louis Henschke at Hill of Grace based on the approach of his ancestors. Taking the baton for that site in 1990, Prue Henschke has layered in biodynamic practices (not certified), as well as a wealth of learnings gathered over the years. “I have always been motivated to bring about improvement with ideas that come from across the world,” she says. “Permanent swards and steep hillside viticulture came from studies in Germany, mulching came from South Africa, soft pruning from Italy, clonal diversity from France and Germany, native grass swards from my botanical training… There’s nothing better than sharing ideas, as someone will always have some improvement to make, and there’s great satisfaction in creating something new.”
Old vines are typically well-adapted to their location, but Henschke maintains that their investment in soil health has increased both their durability and the quality of the fruit. “The inputs to the vineyards are all about building soil health by adding compost and straw under vine, which acts as a buffer against the extremes of the summer,” Henschke says. “This means the fruit has great quality and the resultant wines sit in the super-premium market category.”
That focus on the soil also involves spreading compost under vine to build up organic carbon and improve microbial activity and diversity, which has seen the organic matter increase from 1 to 3 per cent, though Henschke’s goal is higher. “My target is 5 per cent,” she says, “but already we have better water retention and reduced heat stress during summer. The compost is a great source of balanced nutrition for the vines so our yeast assimilable nitrogen in the musts is quite high – a sign of unstressed vines.”
The commitment also extends to larger environmental issues, with Henschke working on reducing their diesel use, noting that the Sustainable Wine Australia benchmarking results indicate their fossil fuel use is still too high. “We will be monitoring our tractor hours to see if there is any reduction we can make with the present management,” she says, “but my wish is to replace our tractors, pumps and motors with electrically powered machinery from a green energy source.”
Through a combination of practices, Henschke has been improving fruit quality year on year, better expressing the venerable site. “Being a dry-grown vineyard, the under-vine mulching has made the biggest difference to the quality of the fruit,” she says. “The permanent swards keep the beautiful sandy topsoil in place, giving us well-balanced vines and a cooler atmosphere during the ripening period of summer. The depth of colour and tannin maturity has improved in the wetter blocks by the adoption of vertical shoot-positioned canopies, and each year, we see that distinct five-spice, particularly star anise, character in the wine.”
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